


Episode 1-05 - "Alone"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 1 - "Seeking the Past" [5]
Category: Mass Effect, Multi-Fandom, Space Opera - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 01:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10294448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Zack is drawn into a false world created by an alien artifact; Julia takes command of the Koenig to investigate an attack on an Alliance colony.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
 _Ship's Log: 13 April 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We're en route to the new colony of Adrana in M4P2 to investigate reports of unknown starships operating in the vicinity. Lieutenant Delgado is her usual ecstatic self, as our secondary mission will be to examine artifacts found not far from the main colony site. If indications are correct, there was a civilization on Adrana that died off eons ago.  
  
Speaking of ecstatic occasions, I am being called upon to perform an old ritual for captains. It will, in more than one way, be a first for me._  
  
The Lookout had been altered for the purpose at hand, with tables moved to the sides and the entire place spruced up to look like a wedding chapel which, for the moment, it was. Robert was in dress uniform; it was white where the standard uniform was black, with gold-embroidered epaulets on the shoulders and white gloves. Hell, he could have had a sword if he wanted.  
  
The thought was funny. Wearing a sword on a starship? Talk about anachronism. Then again, he had a security chief who did just that. _Yeah, but her sword only becames a blade when she presses a button. It's high tech, not like officer swords._  
  
Robert forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. "As captain of the _Aurora_ it is one of my many obligations to oversee this occasion amongst the crew, and as obligations go it is one that I find the most enjoyable. We are here to honor two of our crewmates, Lieutenant Agara Mayao and Lieutenant Alex Cross, as they give their vows to become husband and...." For a short second he stumbled over the word to come, forcing himself away from the usual that a lifetime of expectations had bred in him. "....husband."  
  
The two men, a purple-skinned blue-spotted Dorei and a tan-skinned Human, smiled politely as they continued to hold hands.  
  
"I think I speak for all of their friends and comrades when I say...."  
  
  
  
  
At the bar, Zack was sitting alone and smiling wide, nursing a glass of root beer. He didn't really know the grooms; his smile was amusement at seeing Robert get through the ceremony despite the very... well, it was peculiar for them given where they grew up and when. Most of the later timeframe universes didn't seem to give as much of a damn. _Though it's not just a gay marriage, it's a gay marriage with_ aliens, Zack thought. He applauded when the bracelets and rings were exchanged - a lot of Dorei preferred bracelets - because hey, why not? The new husbands certainly looked happy and joyful as they kissed. They looked content, like the entire world - or was it cosmos now? - was their's.  
  
One of Hargert's assistants, Albert, stepped up across the bar. He had a German accent as well, even if not as thick as Hargert's. "Are you sure you don't want any of the celebratory wine? Or another drink? You're off-duty I thought?"  
  
"No," Zack insisted. "I don't know if anyone told you my rules about this, Al, but.... I only occasionally have beer or something like it when Tom and I are hanging out. And I never have more than one."  
  
"You are a... temperate?"  
  
"Alcohol and my family doesn't mix. So I don't even think about it."  
  
"I understand."  
  
Zack turned his head in time to see Julia approach. She was in dress uniform as well, but given how similar it was to normal uniform it did nothing to hide her gorgeous figure. "Lucky you, no dress whites," Julia said.  
  
"Yeah, lucky me." Zack smiled thinly. "So, uh.... how many graves are rolling back home right now? I mean.... alien gay marriage and all."  
  
Julia laughed harshly. "Yeah, I can imagine old Pastor Allen would be tearing Rob's name from the church membership roll. Well, unless he already did it over Duffy."  
  
"There's a fun thought," Zack muttered. Underneath years of scabbed over feelings he could still feel a deep affection for her. She was nothing less than the perfect woman to him.  
  
But he could never have her. Zack knew this. He'd gotten over most of the heartache in the years after high school, knowing there was no hope at all that he would be anything more than her friend.  
  
The reason he didn't have a hope walked up. "I saw that jackass smile," Robert said with mock severity, wagging his finger at Zack. "I was starting to sweat for a moment there. I never thought I'd be marrying _anyone_ , frankly."  
  
"You did well enough." Julia patted him on the shoulder. "Beth would be proud of you. Of course, when it comes to everyone else.... Can you imagine Pastor Allen's reaction?"  
  
"God, I can. I got caught with his daughter, remember?" Zack forced out a chuckle. "I thought he'd turn the entire county against me."  
  
"Not over that," Julia remarked. She was grinning mischievously. "So, does this give you any ideas? We can't all stay bachelors, can we? Find any ladies to actually settle down with, ladies' man?"  
  
Zack forced himself to smile. "I've never been in a relationship that could go that far." Which was the truth, and about the only thing he could say without going further than he'd want to.  
  
"I guess I can't be surprised. Though I know Clara was..."  
  
"Ahah! No." Zack shook his head. "Not a word about Clara Davis. I'm not going to talk about it. It's done."  
  
Julia giggled while Robert shook his head. "Somewhere in this wide Multiverse there _has_ to be a potential Missus Carrey," Julia insisted. "You get enough women as it is."  
  
"Yeah." _You. It's you._ After sighing and urging his heart to shut up Zack finished his drink. "Well...."  
  
" _Bridge to Captain Dale_ ," Nick Locarno's voice said over the comm. " _Sir, we're coming up on Adrana._ "  
  
"Thank you, Nick," Robert said into his multidevice. "I'll be up shortly. Let Cat know to expect the artifacts soon."  
  
" _Will do._ "  
  
"Hey, I've got nothing better to do right now," Zack murmured, setting aside his empty glass. "I'm going to help Science Girl get things sorted."  
  
"You're not really the science type," Julia pointed out.  
  
"I can still carry things and scan," Zack pointed out. He gave a quick wave. "See ya."  
  
  
  
  
Another shuttle came into the shuttle bay, adjacent to where Zack's own ship the _Koenig_ was berthed. He watched the Dorei craft land almost perfectly. The rear doors opened and a couple of Dorei, a purple-skinned and blue-spotted man and a dark teal-skinned light purple-spotted woman, emerged. Both were in loose-fitting, all-covering clothes with a variety of colors. Zack, for his part, was often a little weirded out by Dorei color tastes; varieties of green and purple and yellow and blue and teal, sometimes some reds.... and almost no sign of what he thought of as "earthy tones".  
  
Behind them came a remote-controlled anti-grav cargo cart. Everything was boxed in it and marked with Dorei and English, but most looked to be the equivalent of pottery shards; in other words, very boring.  
  
"Put them over here," Caterina said. She was in her usual choice of duty uniform with the knee-length skirt instead of pants and the dark blue of science for her color. She was not quite as enthusiastic as usual, although it was like saying it was only raining moderately instead of pouring. Cat's interests might be mostly in astrography and "space stuff", but ancient races were, well, ancient races. "A quarter of a million years? So that's why there's no sign of their cities and stuff." She opened a box. "A burial mound?"  
  
"No, we think it was an old complex of some sort. They were an intelligent race, it looked to be some kind of bunker," one of the Dorei said.  
  
The conversation continued in the background. As it did Zack took a box and opened it to see what was inside. It looked like a rusted piece of hardware, but it definitely had the appearance of a computer of sorts. "If they had computers, shouldn't we see the ruins of old cities or something?", Zack asked. "I mean, some things would last right?"  
  
"It depends on what they made it out of," Caterina answered from where she was going over the manifest. "I mean, that's enough time for geologic changes to take place. Even metal will errode."  
  
"Huh." Zack turned his attention back to the object.  
  
"Can you put it back? Uh, please, Zack?" Caterina smiled. "I kinda need to document it all."  
  
"Oh, sure. Yeah." Zack moved it back toward the box. A random thought slipped into his head, thinking of earlier. _She asks me if I'll ever marry, and she's the only woman I'd ever thinking of taking that step with. And she doesn't even see me as anything more than her slightly perverted skirt-chasing childhood friend._ He breathed in a sigh. _The way things are going for me, I'm always going to be alone._  
  
 _Alone_.  
  
A light appeared on the ancient-looking computer thing. Zack brought it back up from where he'd nearly returned it to its box. Alien characters of some sort flashed across its surface as a hologram, their blue light dancing in his vision.  
  
A sharp pain stabbed him in the head and everything went dark.  
  
  
  
  
"....will take a few days to catalogue everything, of course, but...." Caterina was interrupted by a loud thump and a flash of azure light in her periphery. "Zack, _please_ stop...." She turned to face him... and found him sprawled out on the floor. "....messing with... _Zack!_ " She ran over to where he was and knelt down to feel his pulse. Seeing he was alive she turned to the trinket he'd been toying with, now latched onto his forehead. She grabbed it and sparks flew, a painful jolt making her cry out and fall back. She reached her hand over and hit her multi-device. "Delgado to medbay, medical emergency in Shuttle Bay 2! I need help!"  
  
On the floor, Zack twitched slightly.  
  
  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
 _"Alone"_**

  
  
  
  
  


Zack opened his eyes and rubbed at his head. For a moment he'd forgotten anything except the pain in his head.  
  
But when he moved further, he felt something on his legs. He looked down to see a set of standard sheets, like in his quarters on the _Aurora_. The light was dim, but there was light coming around the slide door to the bathroom and shower stall. The room looked rather larger than Zack's though. He sat up, holding his head and realizing that he was mostly unclothed now. _Who undressed me? And why didn't they take me to medbay?_ As his headache pounded he thought he could hear running water in the background.  
  
After a moment, Zack realized he knew what quarters he was in; the _Captain's Quarters_. _Why would I be in Rob's room?_ He looked around, but he only saw some of his things on one wall. Trophies from high school, pictures from his time in the minors, a baseball mitt and an autographed baseball from the last team he'd been with.... this stuff was supposed to be in _his_ room. There were a few pictures, but the light in the room was too low and he couldn't make out what was in them.  
  
There was a tone from the nightstand nearby, recognizable as a call from the bridge. Zack reached over with his hand and smacked the key. "Yes?"  
  
Jarod's voice was on the other end. " _Captain Carrey?_ "  
  
Zack's eyes flew open at that. "Huh? What?"  
  
There was only a brief pause. " _Oh, sorry, Commander. I didn't mean to wake you. I was trying to...._ "  
  
The door to the bathroom opened and a figure stepped out. Zack turned and allowed his jaw to drop....  
  
"I'm here, Jarod," Julia sighed. She was still dripping a little despite the red towel wrapped around her from below the shoulders to her hips. A second towel was wrapped up around her hair. "Is this about that meeting on Adrana?"  
  
" _They asked if they could delay it by two hours, there's some sort of issue with their preparations._ "  
  
Julia nodded. "Fine, tell them that." She looked up at Zack and smiled. _Smiled_. He'd been expecting her to scream at him for being there when she came out of the shower. _Except it's my room with all of my stuff being... wait, I'm still a Commander._ With a lot of confusion Zack stood up and tried not to gawk. Granted, he'd seen her in far more revealing things than a towel wrapped like that (actually, he'd seen her naked once. Exactly once. It wasn't easy having a party in a house with only two bathrooms. He sometimes could swear he still had the resulting bruise). But here and now it seemed....  
  
"What's up with you?" Julia's expression turned to bemusement. "Didn't sleep well again? After last night I would have thought..."  
  
"Last night....?", he asked groggily.  
  
"Really? You forgot already? Zack Carrey forgot a night like last night?" Julia giggled. _Giggled_. And it wasn't her "You have amused me, annoying pervert" giggle, it was a giggle like... like... _Like something in my dreams maybe_. She stepped up to him. "Well, you haven't started getting ready yet, at least. And now I have an hour or two to spare...." She winked at him. "Looks like I can get a chance to jog your memory."  
  
"Jog my...." Zack felt like his brain was trying to tell him something, but there was still a sharp pain there that was highly distracting.  
  
"Okay sleepyhead, now I wake you up the hard way."  
  
And then Julia kissed him.  
  
 _She kissed him._  
  
The pain in his head _melted_. The sensation of the kiss made him come alive. Deep within him years of fantasy, of desire, of deep _need_ soared up through him. He returned the kiss with all of the energy of a ravenous hunger finally being sated. Julia's eyes widened, but she didn't fight it.  
  
The kiss lasted forever. Or at least it felt that way until his lungs reminded them they needed air. He broke the kiss and took in a deep breath. Julia did the same, a surprised smile on her face. "You haven't kissed me like that since our first time together," she said happily.  
  
Zack simply stared at her. And then himself. And now, with the pain gone.... he could see things, even in the dim quarters.  
  
His things... and _hers_.  
  
And Jarod had called her _Captain Carrey_.  
  
Julia's right hand came up and took his. He noticed a sensation of something he had never felt before. He looked down and....  
  
There was a gold band on his right ring finger. Another just like it was on Julia's.  
  
"So, Zack, we have a couple of hours we normally don't get. And since you seem to have a lot of trouble remembering last night..." She smiled enthusiastically at him and, with a motion of her hand, let the towel fall off of her. "I can't let my husband go forgetting things like that, can I?"  
  
 _I'm married to Julia_ , he thought.  
  
All sorts of things were going through Zack's brain. All sorts of details that were off, not to mention the fact that he could remember that alien device becoming active, the pain in his head and the sudden darkness. But looking into Julia's eyes, seeing her willing smile and with the sweet taste of her kiss still fresh....  
  
 _I'm **married to Julia!**_  
  
He responded by kissing her again, and she returned it. They moved toward the bed and, as they did so, tears appeared in Zack's eyes.  
  
He wasn't going to be alone. Not here. Not with her. And in that moment, that's all he cared about.  
  
 _I'm not alone anymore._  
  
  
  
  
Robert and Julia entered the medbay at almost the same time and made a beeline for the special care ward. Leo was already at the beside, looking over a scanner while Caterina used her own. "What the hell happened?", Robert asked.  
  
"Zack was looking at one of the artifacts when it, I dunno, came alive," Caterina explained. "And then it lit up and he suddenly fell over. Now we can't get it off of his forehead."  
  
"It looks like it's using a sort of biochemical bond," Leo explained. "It's tied to him at a cellular level. His brain activity is through the roof."  
  
"And it's transmitting too. A constant beam transmission, definitely toward the planet." Cat checked her scanner again. "I don't get it. The Dorei scanned everything. It was all... dead, for lack of a better word. I can't figure out how it happened."  
  
Julia looked over into Zack's unconscious face. "So what's it doing to him?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Leo admitted. "Like I said, brain activity through the roof. It's almost like he's awake and experiencing normal reality."  
  
"Maybe whatever this is has him dreaming?"  
  
"No signs of REM or anything associated with a brain that's asleep. He's _awake_ , it's just that.... his brain is being stimulated by something external."  
  
"Cat, get with Jarod, track where...."  
  
" _Bridge to Captain Dale_." Locarno's voice came over the comm. " _Sir, we're picking up a distress signal from the Dorei colony on Yamalia. They've been attacked._ "  
  
Robert breathed in. "Crap. Okay, monitor him, maybe if we're lucky this thing has to be near the planet to work." He tapped his multi-device to open the comm line from his end. "Nick, set a course for Yamalia, Warp 9.6."  
  
" _Yes sir._ "  
  
"THe reports said the unknown ships in the area were remaining at a distance of several parsecs," Julia said, frowning. "How did an attacker get through our long-range sensors?" She turned to start leaving the room, Robert following.  
  
"Yamalia's a new colony, maybe they weren't given the best." Robert felt a gentle thrum under his feet; the _Aurora_ had just leapt to warp.  
  
And then an agonized scream came from the special care ward.  
  
  
  
  
Contentment mixed with fatigue filled Zack as he let his head rest comfortably on his pillow. Julia's head was nestled on his left shoulder, a thin sheen of sweat on both of them. "Mmmm... do you remember last night now?", Julia purred.  
  
"Yeah," he lied. Or... was it a lie? He was feeling like he could remember the prior night. They'd had a private meal in their quarters, discussed a little bit of business...  
  
But he'd been alone. And then there was that wedding that Robert had to preside over the next morning, and his going to the shuttle bay and messing with the artifacts Cat was going over. That memory was still there, at the edge of his thoughts, but it felt... slippery. Like it was draining away.  
  
He took a deep breath and used his left arm to pull Julia a little closer. "I could just lay here with you all day," Zack admitted.  
  
"Mmm.... as good as cuddling for an entire day sounds, I'm a starship captain and I've got work to do." She smirked at him. "Or rather, we're both starship captains, but you're the lazy one who spends all of his time hooked up to my ship."  
  
"Well, I need my darling wife to keep me in line, don't I?", Zack chuckled in response.  
  
"You'd better believe it." She gave him a soft kiss on the chin.  
  
The comm went off again. "Duty calls." Julia gave him a deeper kiss and reached over to press the button on the nightstand. "Captain Carrey here."  
  
This time it was Angel. " _The colonial governor called and said he'd be ready in half an hour._ "  
  
"Tell him we'll be there, Angel."  
  
" _Will do._ "  
  
Julia was laying across him now, giving him a very pleasing view of her from the side. She looked back at him and smirked. "You've had this view before."  
  
"And better," Zack said. "This morning, in fact."  
  
"We'll have to do it again sometime." She finished crawling over him and got out of the bed. "And I need another shower. And _no_ , you can't come in with me, too distract...."  
  
Horrible, savage agony stabbed into Zack's forehead. His spine arched and he screamed.  
  
  
  
  
As Zack's cries filled the ward, Leo took a vial of something and fixed it into his hypospray. With Robert and Julia helping he pressed it against Zack's neck and depressed the trigger. "There, 20ccs of pain-inhibitor, it should..."  
  
Zack kept screaming, thrashing enough that his arm pulled free of Robert's grip and slammed into Leo, knocking him back a bit. An inarticulate growl came from his throat. Leo glanced at the nearby screen. "EEG through the roof!" He looked to the nearest nurse. "Prep cortical stimulators! And find me a neural sedative!"  
  
"Atloxin?"  
  
"No! _Stronger!_ " Leo looked back to Zack, with Robert trying to hold his arm down again while Julia kept the other locked in place.  
  
"The device is going haywire!", Caterina shouted. "It's... it's the loss of the signal! I think losing that signal to its home world... it's trying to restore it and that's frying Zack's brain!"  
  
"Suggestions?!", Robert shouted.  
  
"We need to go back to Adrana!"  
  
"We can't!" Robert shook his head. "We have to answer that distress signal."  
  
"No, somebody has to," Julia answered. "I'll take the _Koenig_. You go back to Adrana and save Zack."  
  
"Are you sure? If you run into something..."  
  
"Would you rather get Zack killed, Rob?!"  
  
Robert swallowed. "No, no I wouldn't," he said, truthfully. He didn't want to have to make that kind of call. He shifted his grip on Zack's arm to touch his multidevice. "Locarno! Belay that last order! Get us back to Adrana, now! Maximum warp!"  
  
" _Sir?!_ "  
  
"Just do it, I'll explain later!"  
  
Zack screamed again.  
  
Locarno clearly heard it too. " _Taking us back, sir_."  
  
The trip back to orbit was done more quickly, with the _Aurora_ 's warp drives at their maximum safe output. As soon as the ship dropped from warp Zack stopped moving, a cry stopping as it reached its crescendo. Leo checked the biobed sensors. "EEG is returning to the original level. Vitals are returning to normal...."  
  
"The signal is stabilizing the device," Caterina confirmed.  
  
Robert nodded to Julia. She pressed a key on her multidevice. "Commander Andreys to Lieutenant Apley, I need the _Koenig_ prepped for launch immediately."  
  
Apley's response was immediate. " _I'm gathering the crew Commander, we'll be ready to go in ten minutes._ "  
  
"Good luck," Robert said to her. "And be careful."  
  
"Of course." Julia smiled thinly at him before returning her eyes to the unconscious form of Zack. "Get better, Zack," she said to him softly. She gently hugged him on the shoulders before standing upright again and walking out of the ward.  
  
"I'd better call up the ground teams, find out where this thing was found," Robert added. "Cat, be on standby, I'm sending you and Jarod to deal with it."  
  
"Sure," Caterina answered.  
  
"And make sure to be quick about it," Leo called out, pointing at the EEG. "That didn't cause any damage itself, but Zack's brain can't do this forever. Eventually it's going to giveout."  
  
"Then let's get this done."  
  
  
  
  
Zack flinched as Leo ran his scanner over his head. "I'm not seeing any major problems here," he said. "What can you tell me?"  
  
"One moment there was no pain. The next, I've got a knife in my brain. Made of pure fire too."  
  
"Hrm." Leo touched a couple of controls. "Well, I can't see anything wrong now. Just try to take it easy for a couple of days and let me know if anything changes."  
  
"Sure."   
  
"And Julia wanted me to remind you that you're due on the bridge at 1300 to relieve Angel."  
  
"Yeah yeah...." Zack thought for a moment about this being some kind of fantasy... but why? No, it wasn't was it? This was his life, and he had work to do. Although for some reason he couldn't remember, he wasn't looking forward to seeing Angel.  
  
  
  
  
When Zack arrived on the bridge Adrana was slowly rotating below them. Tom Barnes, Nick Locarno, and Jarod were at their usual stations, but Tactical was manned by some dark purple blue-spotted Dorei. Angel stood up from the command chair and approached him. As she did so his eyes settled on her collar... and on the three gold stripes there. _But if she's XO, where's Robert?_ He felt like he should know that, but he still wasn't sure what was going on in his head. "So, everything's quiet as usual huh?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll be back in a couple of hours." Angel barely seemed to take notice of him, moving past him toward the turbolift. She gave an order to the lift as it closed.  
  
Zack stared for a moment. She had been so... hostile just now. "I guess Angel's having a bad day," he said aloud.  
  
"Well, yes, because she saw you," Tom pointed out.  
  
Zack looked over at him. "Well, yeah, she's always been a bit surly with me, but..." .... _but what? She hates you now. But... why does she hate me?_  
  
"Leave it alone, Zack. Remember, you promised to do that when we got our postings," Jarod reminded him... or at least intended to remind, since Zack didn't know what the hell he'd promised.  
  
"Yeah," he said simply, avoiding the subject for the moment. He settled into the command chair.  
  
"I hope you enjoyed your extra hours this morning," Jarod remarked non-chalantly, seeming to smile a bit as he looked back. "You and the Captain."  
  
"Now now, I don't kiss and tell," Zack said, wagging his finger.  
  
"Not since Julia, anyway," Tom guffawed.  
  
"Okay okay. Jealousy is not becoming of you," Zack teased back. "So, eyes on boards, lets do our usual thing. You guys work, I sit here and look like I'm paying attention."  
  
"I'm not sure that'd be much different from when you are paying attention."  
  
" _Et tu_ , Jarod?" Zack shook his head. It felt good to spar with them, as always. _But... why do I feel like they're a bit snarkier than usual?_  
  
  
  
  
Julia hadn't been in the _Koenig_ command chair for quite a while, and being back... under the circumstances it didn't feel right. She could see some of the unease in the others too; Even if he'd only been their commander for half a year at this point, Apley and the others _knew_ Zack in a way they didn't know her. Magda was the only old face she had on the crew now. She gave Julia a sympathetic look and looked back to her panels.  
  
 _If Apley is ever replaced by a girl, I'll have to tease Zack about having his own harem_ , Julia thought with amusement, even if she felt a twist in her gut at the thought of never getting to tease her old friend again. "Status, Mister Apley?"  
  
At first there was no response, but Apley suddenly shifted his head. "Oh, everything is ready, sir."  
  
"All systems are green," Magda added.  
  
"Weapon systems standing by when needed."  
  
"Okay everyone, let's do this by the book. Take us out, Mister Apley. Set course for Yamalia and engage as soon as we're clear."  
  
"Yes Commander." Apley pressed several keys. Under them the _Koenig_ shifted slightly as she resumed powering herself. All connections to the _Aurora_ were retracted and the smaller ship began backing out of its berth built into the back of the larger ship. _Koenig_ 's running lights came to life as she moved up and over the saucer section of the _Aurora_. "Course set for Yamalia."  
  
"Engage. Lieutenant Navaez, activate the cloak."  
  
At a press of a button, Magda cloaked the ship. Lights shifted to reflect the change in operating status. Moments later the ship jumped to warp.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is drawn into a false world created by an alien artifact; Julia takes command of the Koenig to investigate an attack on an Alliance colony.

" _Captain, I understand the situation._ " The look on Governor Yalama's blue face, with his purple spot line framing it, showed he really didn't, or at least didn't care about what Robert needed. Even if he was in the confines of his office Robert tried to avoid letting his anger get the better of him here. " _But the site in question is restricted. It's an archeological treasure, we can't allow military personnel to go tromping about in it._ "  
  
"I understand, and I'm not sending such. Lieutenant Delgado is a _scientist_ first and foremost. Commander Jarod, well, it wouldn't surprise me if he's done archeology professionally." Robert sighed and leaned forward. "They'll take all necessary precautions."  
  
" _Captain..._ "  
  
"Governor, someone is dying right now because of something on that planet," Robert cut in, his patience wearing dangerously thin. "We're not going to harm the site, but we need to find out what this thing is."  
  
" _I need some kind of assurance, Captain. Our colony is relying on the funding we're getting from the High University of the Lushan. If I have to tell their archeological department that the site was ruined by Stellar Navy personnel, why, I..... they could pull their support, Captain!_ "  
  
Robert drew in a sigh, trying not to feel aggravated. Going higher would not be the smart thing to do. "What if I sent a _swevyra'se_ of Gersal with them?", Robert finally asked.  
  
Yalama's face changed to surprise. " _You have a connection to them?_ "  
  
"I have one serving on my ship."  
  
Yalama's jaw dropped. " _You're serious?! I've never heard of such a thing..._ " He became mindful of his less than dignified expression and closed his mouth. " _Captain, I will give your officers access if you send this_ swevyra'se _with the team. I will see them and get their promise to maintain the integrity of the site._ "  
  
Robert nodded. "I'll send them down immediately." When Yalama disappeared from his screen Robert hit his multidevice comm button. "Dale to Meridina."  
  
After a short period he got a reply. " _I am here._ "  
  
"I'm going to have to send you down with Jarod and Cat, it's the only way to get Governor Yamala's cooperation."  
  
" _Very well. I will be ready._ "  
  
  
  
  
Angel had given Zack the stinkeye when he left the bridge, leaving him to wonder just what the hell had gone on to make her angry with him.  
  
His other thought was, quite simply, _Where the hell is Rob?_ He felt like he should know.  
  
He returned to the Captain's Cabin to change the sheets and make the bed. As Zack did so he let his thoughts try to make everything in his head ordered. He had memories of getting zapped by a weird thing and now he was married to Julia, Julia was captain of the _Aurora_ , and Angel was her XO and seemed to hate him now. But... wasn't that how it had always been? Why did he feel like he shouldn't be married to Julia, to his beloved wife, the woman he'd give everything for? And why was he surprised that Robert was missing....  
  
Zack's heart froze as he considered those two facts. Angel was mad at him. Robert was missing. He wasn't here. _Something happened._  
  
 _But... why am I surprised? I shouldn't be. Of course something happened. It hurt but... why do I feel like I saw Robert just hours ago?_  
  
"Computer?", he asked aloud.  
  
" _Awaiting request._ " The feminine voice was its usual dull, lifeless self; Carlton Farmer had personally determined the voice used and based it, like so many other things, on things from Starfleet.  
  
"Computer, please give me the status of Robert Dale."  
  
" _There are several individuals of significance with that name. Please specify._ "  
  
"Robert Allen Dale," Zack said in irritation. "From my home universe. My best friend. _That Robert Dale_."  
  
" _Accessing.... Robert Allen Dale. Member of Darglan Facility H1E4 Council. Commanding Officer in Facility Armed Service. Current Status: Deceased._ "  
  
The words struck Zack with such force that he almost fell into the loveseat, catching himself at the last minute in order to actually sit normally. He took a breath and felt like it hurt. Most of all, he was confused, very confused, that he was so surprised. _Dammit, Rob's alive, you just saw him! I know I just saw him today!_ "Wha..... what happened?", he forced himself to say.  
  
" _Robert Dale is listed as a casualty of the Dalek Incursion._ "  
  
Zack was silent after that. The Daleks of Universe W8R4, the weird things that looked like pepper shakers and which had carved a swath of bloody destruction in the Facility, had nearly killed them all. They'd lost Carlton Farmer, almost lost Angel, and they'd blown up the _Kelley_ and with it the Facility. _And we lost Rob too. But we didn't? I, I could swear we..._ Zack closed his eyes. _This is how I got married to Julia?_  
  
The door slid open and Julia entered. She saw him sitting and the confusion and bewilderment on his face. Her expression shifted to show sympathy. "Is something wrong?"  
  
 _Everything feels wrong and it shouldn't. Robert being dead, our marriage, Angel hating me..._. Aloud his response was, "I was, well, I was thinking about Rob."  
  
Julia nodded. Her eyes lowered. "I do a lot too. Sometimes I can't believe he's gone." She walked over and sat beside him. His remark had clearly cut into her heart in a way he'd never met to.  
  
Zack took her hand and held it with his own. "How was work, honey?", Zack asked, looking to get their minds off the subject.  
  
"Oh, the usual. The Governor and his advisors were being all nice and diplomatic and talking about their ruins and how they need more protection." Julia cuddled up to him. "So... I have a few hours of reports to do and file off for Admiral Maran, but when I'm done I hear Hargert is making some excellent things for tonight."  
  
"A dinner in the Lookout?"  
  
"Why not? We can't always eat in here." Julia smiled at him. "I..... may have let slip to him that you had a bad morning, so he's going to add some oysters to our meal."  
  
Zack chuckled. "Oh wow. Is that a proposition, Mrs. Carrey?"  
  
"I wasn't looking to be subtle," she answered. Her green eyes lit up as she kissed him on the mouth.  
  
And like before, having her lips against his mouth made the confusion go away..  
  
  
  
  
The excavation stretched out around Caterina, Jarod, and Meridina as their shuttle came in to land. "A good thing the Governor has such a high opinion of you," Jarod remarked.  
  
"Many Dorei have an appreciation for my order," Meridina answered. "Even regardless of theological differences."  
  
The shuttle landed and they disembarked. As they came up to an elevator lift they were met by a blue-skinned, teal-spotted Dorei male in a green coat. Alien characters were stitched into it. "Doctor Pagar," Meridina said, nodding respectfully.  
  
" _Swevyra'se_ ," Pagar replied respectfully. "We've gone over the telemetry you provided. We think that one of our newest tunnels leads to the point you seek. Please, follow me."  
  
They went with Pagar onto the lift. Within seconds they were underground and the lift didn't seem to be slowing. "This is pretty far down," Jarod noted.  
  
"At least four _yems_ ," Pagar replied. "I believe that would be about three kilometers for you. And the deepest tunnels seem to have been dug as far down as ten yems, though many were clearly incomplete."  
  
"So what is this place?", Caterina asked. "Was it a home or something?'  
  
"We found remains that hint it was more than just a home," Pagar answered. "We think it was a bunker. But we've found no sign of remaining life, so we have to assume the garrison here abandoned the base."  
  
"Or were forced to," Jarod noted.  
  
The lift came to a stop. A hover cart was waiting for them with an assistant at the wheel. "Please, we still have quite a drive to go," Pagar said.  
  
"Are we going to be able to reach the _Aurora_ this far down?", Meridina asked.  
  
"We have signal boosters," Pagar replied. "They should permit you to maintain a constant channel regardless of any interference."  
  
"That's re-assuring," Jarod mumbled.  
  
  
  
  
A horrified-looking Dorei woman, with teal complexion and purple spotting, was on the _Koenig_ 's main viewer. Her purple eyes were focused intently on them. " _We just got full communication back up_ ," she said. " _They spent hours hunting for people through our colony. They were throwing them into cages and dragging them off!_ "  
  
Julia's hands clenched the chair arms. _Slavers. Bastards._ "Can you tell us anything about the ship? Why wasn't it picked up on long range sensors? Was it cloaked?"  
  
" _No. It... it didn't seem to use warp, there was a sudden Doppler shift and it appeared over our planet. Their first volley hit our subspace transmitter._ "  
  
"Do you have any indication on its course?"  
  
" _No. There was another Doppler shift and they were gone._ " The governor of Yamalia put a hand on the cut on her chin. " _They... they took my children, Commander. Please get them back. Please!_ "  
  
"We'll find them," Julia assured her. "Can you tell me anything about the attackers?"  
  
" _They were bipedal. No hair, and....._ " The woman disappeared, the screen blipping out.  
  
"Magda?"  
  
Magda was examining things on her screen. "it looks like their comm system failed again. Unless we go to Yamalia I can't tell you if they'll be able to get it back up or not."  
  
"If we go to Yamalia they might get away." Julia frowned and hit a key to bring up an astrographical map. Yamalia flashed blue, as did Adrana. "Magda, can you access those reports on ships spotted on long range?"  
  
"Doing so now." Magda entered the relevant commands. Several systems rimward of the Dorei colonies lit up. "There was no activity on long range sensor to indicate warp systems in use."  
  
"Still, it could be anywhere in one of those systems. What did we get on sensors about them?"  
  
"I'm checking..." Magda went over some of the records and reached for her multidevice. "Navaez to Derbely. Karen, I'm relaying readings to your station in Engineering. Can you tell me what you see?"  
  
" _Alright._ " There was a pause on the other end. " _...okay, what is this from? That subspace pulse is positively humongous._ "  
  
"It came from one of the nearby systems..... System M4P2-G1SV."  
  
" _It's either from some weird kind of pulsar that ripples into subspace or its artificial._ "  
  
"As good a place as any to check," Julia said. "In the meantime, I want every band of subspace scanned. If they're not using warp drives, maybe their FTL uses a different band."  
  
"Changing course now," Apley confirmed.  
  
"Expanding scan range," Magda added.  
  
Julia nodded and felt the subtle shift of the ship changing course.  
  
  
  
  
The vehicle came to a stop at one end of the excavation. Pagar led the three through a circular-looking door and into a smaller chamber, not quite fifteen feet high. Caterina looked down at her multidevice and brought up a holographic display. "Wow... we've definitely got something powered up down here."  
  
"We've had no such energy sources before," Pagar insisted.  
  
Caterina focused her scans on the center of the chamber. A quarter million years had caused fading of color and such, but being underground had preserved the site. There was the clear indication of computer interfaces, flat slab, and a cylindrical device that now hummed. Blue light flickered within. On the closest side of the device was an empty table of some form. "It looks like the microfusion system they put in it is the main source of power." Caterina tapped buttons, showing different scan results. "This is why it lost contact with the device on Zack. This thing can't communicate over extrasolar distances."  
  
"So how do we turn it off?", Meridina asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. I'm afraid if we mess with it too much it might hurt Zack again." Caterina went up to an old display. "What do we know about this?"  
  
"Almost nothing. The internal parts include data drives and other machinery, but we've never seen anything like it," Pagar replied.  
  
"And you just... found it like this?"  
  
"No, we also found fossilized remains from what we presume to be the natives of Adrana," Pagar explained. "Many of them spread around the chamber. It seems to be the result of an accident of some sort. Several of the remains showed signs of cellular modification before their demise."  
  
"Sounds nasty." Jarod ran a hand over one of the metal surfaces. "Alright, I'll see if I can get something like a control system up. Cat, can you...?"  
  
"I'll handle scans," Cat replied. "Meridina, I'm sorry but I don't think there's anything you can do."  
  
"I understand. This is not my specialty." Having said that, Meridina looked around consciously. This place had a terrible history, she felt. Despair and rage danced at the edge of her senses, never quite strong enough to get her attention but there in some way. "But I will remain nevertheless. I feel as if I will be needed."  
  
  
  
  
After dealing with his duties for the day, Robert returned to the medbay and took a seat beside Zack in the care ward. Leo came in a few minutes later. "How's he doing?", Robert asked.  
  
"He's stable," Leo replied. He shook his head. "I've investigated every possible way to get that thing off of him. But the connection its formed with his brain is just too powerful. If I try anything to remove it, anything, odds are the backlash will kill Zack."  
  
"Is there any hope?", Robert asked quietly.  
  
"There's always hope." Leo put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Cat and Jarod will find out what this thing is. And maybe there's a way to turn it off."  
  
"Yeah." Robert put his face in his left hand. "Leo... do you ever think we were wrong to bring Zack out here?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"What I mean is.... we all had our reasons to want to use the gifts of the Facility. But Zack didn't care about it. The only reason he's here is because we're here. Our friendship pulled him here with us."  
  
"Yes, true," Leo agreed.  
  
"Maybe he would have been better off staying home," Robert thought aloud. "He wouldn't be laying here dying."  
  
"Think of all the times Zack came through for us, Robert." Leo shook his head. "And..... Robert, let's be honest. His life was just as directionless as your's. This was good for him."  
  
"How can you say that? He had a family..."  
  
"A mean old drunk is not a family," Leo retorted. " _We_ are his family, Robert. Even if he's not sure what to do out here, that wouldn't change. And we would be a hell of a lot worse off without him."  
  
Robert nodded quietly and looked back to his unconscious friend. "Yeah. We would be."  
  
"You've got other work to do, right? I'll call you if anything changes."  
  
"No, I got it all done. I think it's best that I, uh, stay here." Robert smiled thinly. "Julie and Tom can't be here, so I will be."  
  
"Your choice. I'll have Nasri get a cot." Leo patted him on the shoulder again. "Just remember to get rest."  
  
Robert nodded quietly and sat back in the seat, beginning his vigil over his stricken friend.  
  
  
  
  
The dinner in the Lookout was as good as it ever got. Zack was in a casual long-sleeve button down shirt, blue and red in line patterns, while Julia had gone for a short-sleeved green blouse and matching skirt. It felt good to be out of uniform. Whatever this was - in his head, an alternate timeline of some sort, or a dream - Hargert's cooking was as good as ever, although as it turned out he had not added oysters to the meal, instead insisting on cooked salmon as the main seafood course.  
  
They had made small talk at first, the kind of talk Zack always imagined a married couple would make when they weren't discussing "important business". Then there was silence as the food was served and they focused on eating. Zack used the time to think, to come to terms with, well, everything. This world was wrong but it wasn't. He was remembering so many details now but they seemed..... fake. Like it wasn't what really happened. There was a corner of his head   
  
"You look thoughtful," Julia remarked quietly, having finished a bite of salmon.  
  
"I'm just wondering if I can get Angel to look at me like she used to, as her annoying lecherous friend," Zack remarked.  
  
Julia frowned and lowered her head. "I thought she'd get over it. I mean..."  
  
"She loves him. Loved. Even if they couldn't make it work." Zack took a quick bite. "I just wish I knew why she hated me so much now."  
  
"She blames you," Julia said, her tone indicating she was a little miffed at having to remind him. "I... Zack, please? Another topic? I don't want to talk about Rob."  
  
"Yeah, sorry." Zack took another bite and finished it. He couldn't think of anything else to say for the moment. _I know how much it'd hurt if Rob had died back then in the real world. But something doesn't seem right. What is going on here?_  
  
  
  
  
Jarod brought his scanner away from the machine, examining his multidevice. "This technology has some familiar mechanics," he said, looking over to where Caterina was examining the flat table. "It reminds me of the Darglan brainwave infusers we had in the Facility. The emitter systems and the data flow going through them is similar."  
  
"So this thing connects to brains and downloads data?' Caterina shook her head. "Wait, no.... it's not just that." She ran her own scanner over the far section of the device, near one of the prods of blue light. "Jarod.... these scans of the datastream... look at this."  
  
Meridina watched passively as Jarod walked over and used his scanner on the device as well. "It's not one way," Jarod said. "This... this connection is a _two way_ data stream." He and Cat looked at each other with realization.  
  
"So that's why Zack's brain is so active," Cat murmured. "This thing is actively communicating with him on a neurological level!"  
  
"And it's not letting go," Jarod added. "We need to find a way to make it do that. I'm analyzing the device's data systems now, maybe there's a port we can use..." He walked around it, holding out the scanner from his multidevice and looking at the data on the pop-up holo display. As he stepped up to the table and followed his scans, he looked to the table and to the device. His hand reached up and gripped the side of a slight extension. A grunt came from him as his arm tensed and he visibly pulled. There was the sound of protesting metal. Jarod frowned and pulled harder. As he went to bring his second hand up, Meridina stepped up beside him and laid a hand on it. "What are you doing?", Jarod asked.  
  
"My _swevyra_ will suffice and not risk damaging the device," she answered. Meridina focused on it and felt her life force take hold of it, finding the rails within that were rusted and old and locked in place. With effort her power began to force it loose, just enough energy applied to break the eons of immobility and allow the device to come all the way out. It gave way with a metallic shriek and the painful screech of metal forced across metal. The protrusion came all the way out.  
  
Jarod looked from it to the table and back. It fit right over the head of the table, giving maybe ten centimeters of clearance. He ran the scanner over it. "It's an interface," he said. "So someone can lay here and connect to the system."  
  
"Yes." Meridina swallowed and closed her eyes. She'd felt pain on this thing. Like the life that was once here had reached out to her, full of loss and terror and despair..... indeed, hopelessness itself. _What happened here?_ , she thought to herself. "Could someone interface with it here? Maybe we could find the control."  
  
"Let me get to work on it," Jarod said. "We can see if this part is still capable of working."  
  
  
  
  
Dinner was over and Julia and Zack were heading back to their quarters. His arm was in hers and Zack, for all he was still uncertain, couldn't stop enjoying his life as it was now. Even with Robert gone, everything seemed to be happy for him. _Rob would want this_ , he assured himself. _He'd want me and Julie to be happy. I know him._  
  
As they approached their quarters they found Angel standing outside of them. She barely seemed to acknowledge Zack's presence, focusing her view on Julia. She handed her a tablet. "First long range scans. Cat hasn't found anything yet."  
  
"Okay, thank you," Julia answered.  
  
"Knowing Cat she found plenty, just not alien ships," Zack chuckled.  
  
Angel stared daggers at him. Julia looked at them with concern. "What did I say?", Zack asked. He didn't flinch from Angel's angry look. "Angel, please? This isn't how things should be."  
  
"You're right, they're not," Angel hissed. "Robert should be alive. If anyone should be dead, it should be _you_."  
  
"Angel!", Julia shouted.  
  
"Julia, please. I want this settled," Zack insisted.  
  
"I know what you did, you bastard," Angel growled. "Nobody will believe it from me, but I _know_. So go to Hell." She pushed past him and stormed off.  
  
Julia drew in a sigh. "You need to stop trying, Zack. Angel's just.... she's so angry."  
  
"But she's still here."  
  
"Only because of Cat and Leo. And it's only a matter of time before she..." Julia put a hand to her forehead. "Please, Zack. The night is going so well. Please?"  
  
Zack looked at the corridor Angel had departed down. He swallowed and looked back at Julia - at his beautiful, suffering wife - and forced a smile to his face. "For you, of course." He put his arms around her sides and pulled her close. "For you, anything..."  
  
Despite himself, Zack's heart lifted with joy at feeling Julia in his arms and the love she was directing toward him. When she kissed him it made him stop thinking about Robert again. He didn't resist as she pulled him into their quarters.  
  
  
  
  
"Coming out of warp in M4P2-G1SV in five seconds," Apley informed the others.  
  
"Navaez, how is the cloak?", Julia asked.  
  
"Operating within parameters."  
  
"Do we have anything on sensors?"  
  
By this point the ship tremored beneath their feet as its warp fields disengaged and it decelerated to sublight. Magda was looking over her sensors intently. "I'm picking up a really big mass along the outer edge of the system, near the second-largest gas giant. It has an active subspace signature."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I'm... not sure. It doesn't appear to be entirely active, it just has an active subspace signature."  
  
"Some kind of device on standby?", April Sherlily proposed from Tactical.  
  
"Keep an eye on it. Anything else?"  
  
"Nothing... wait. I've got a ship near the gas giant, not far from that object. Decently sized."  
  
"Take us in Apley," Julia ordered. "As soon as we're close enough, give me a life sign scan. Let's see if they have any Dorei."  
  
The _Koenig_ moved in at full impulse, closing the range quickly. The ship was unlike anything Julia had seen. It had no visible warp drive system, being instead a long, fat vessel of brown coloration with visible weapon emplacements on the hull and large ports. "It's some kind of carrier, isn't it?"  
  
"I don't know. I'm reading lots of life signs aboard. Various aliens I've never seen... and some Humans, sir," Magda added.  
  
"Humans?" Julia put a hand on her chin. "We haven't met the local Humans yet. Can you give me anything on the ship's function?"  
  
"It's a carrier or transport of some sort, I can't give you more than that," Magda answered. "Wait... I'm getting a subspace surge nearby. It's fairly slow, about Warp 4 in comparison at best. ETA thirty minutes."  
  
"You said in comparison. So it's not actually at warp?"  
  
"Yes and no, Commander," Magda replied. "Its drive has some warp field effect, yes, but it's not a full warp system like we have. The subspace signature is a side effect of the drive field instead of being part of it like a normal warp field. And the mass is way off for a ship of its size."  
  
"Trajectory, Mister Apley?"  
  
"Examining now." Apley looked over his screens. "Commander, that ship came straight from Yamalia."  
  
"Then it's probably our raider." Julia swallowed. "Code Yellow. Standby for Code Red. I want scans when that ship comes in."  
  
  
  
  
Meridina shifted herself a little on the ancient table, looking right up at the interface she'd pulled out. Caterina stood nearby while Jarod was fussing with his multidevice. "The control surfaces to this thing were smashed, so I have to do the controls remotely," he explained. "Are you sure about this?"  
  
"I am the best choice. You and Caterina must continue to examine the device."  
  
Jarod breathed in a sigh. "Okay. To recap, this will let you enter the datastream the device is sharing with Zack. You'll be experiencing the same thing he is. I'm not sure if you'll be able to do anything inside to break the connection, but see what it does let you do. Cat will be monitoring you while I...." He tapped another button and winced. "....keep trying to find out how this works."  
  
"I am ready."  
  
"Okay. I'm powering the interface now." Jarod tapped a couple of keys on the device.  
  
Meridina quietly whispered a prayer to the Light and waited. Blue light gathered in her vision. "Activating interface.... now," she heard Jarod say.  
  
The blue light became a beam that hit her forehead. Intense pain stabbed into her head and Meridina cried out before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is drawn into a false world created by an alien artifact; Julia takes command of the Koenig to investigate an attack on an Alliance colony.

Zack was laying in bed, Julia spooned up beside him. Her eyes were closed as she slept peacefully under his arm. The sight of her so happy, so content, and in his arms as his wife... why wouldn't that part of his head which remembered the device go away? This was his life. The contentment he felt here... it was unlike any he'd known.  
  
_I have everything I could want_ , he thought. _Well, almost everything... but why don't I feel more upset about it? My best friend is dead in this world._  
  
With his eyes closed Zack almost thought he could fall asleep. He was almost there...  
  
  
  
  
There were alert tones from the biosensors watching Zack. Robert looked up and saw one line becoming more active. "Leo!", he shouted.  
  
A nurse came in first, a male Alakin who looked over the readings. "Doctor!", he called out.  
  
Leo entered with a medical kit in hand. "His brain activity is spiking."  
  
"That's bad?", Robert asked.  
  
"It could be," Leo replied. "If that thing is intensifying the connection it could do permanent damage."  
  
" _Jarod to_ Aurora." The voice came over Robert's multidevice. " _What's Zachary's status?_ "  
  
"Brain activity spike," Robert answered. "Did you...?"  
  
" _We hooked Meridina up to the machine to see what's going on. That device is expanding the bandwidth of its signal to interact with both._ "  
  
"Just don't do this too long," Leo said. "You're risking permanent brain damage to them both."  
  
" _We're monitoring from here, if it gets too high we'll pull her out. But I'm not sure how we can get Zack out from here. Even if we take out the device I'm worried that feedback might hurt Zack anyway._ "  
  
"We'll take that bridge when we come to it."  
  
  
  
  
"Commander Carrey!"  
  
Zack opened his eyes and looked up. Meridina was standing at the foot of the bed. "Meridina, what the hell?!", he shouted.  
  
Julia stirred as well, looking up. She looked bewildered and irritated as she held the sheet up over herself. " _What are you doing?!_ ," she demanded. "Why are you in our room?!"  
  
Meridina, for her part, was quiet for a moment. Zack realized something was off when he saw she was in her brown robes and purple combat suit, not her usual duty uniform. "Commander Carrey," she repeated. "I..... I was not aware of just what the device was doing in interfacing with your brain."  
  
"Device? What device?" Julia looked at her like she was mad. Zack, however did not. He felt like someone had just stabbed him in the heart. Memories flooded into him. "Meridina, I...."  
  
Meridina turned and brought a hand up. "She's not Julia," she said. "She is something else."  
  
"Are you _crazy?!_ "  
  
Zack drew in a breath. He remembered the shuttle bay. The device with blue holo-characters appearing over it. "No, she's not," he said hoarsely, thinking his heart would stop.  
  
"Zack?!"  
  
He gave a reassuring look to Julia. "Whatever's happening, dear, I'll see what's going on. Don't worry. I love you." He kissed her on the mouth.  
  
Julia accepted the kiss happily. As they kissed Zack again felt himself grow sure that _this_ was the real world, his suspicions being.... nothing?  
  
Meridina eyed them intently.  
  
"I think I'll go take a shower," Julia said, giving a trusting look to Zack before slipping out from under the bed with the sheet over herself.  
  
When the door was closed Zack looked up at Meridina. "So this isn't real?", he said. His voice trembled more than he wanted it to.  
  
"You are..... attached to some form of device," Meridina explained. "It's connected to an underground computer on the planet, a very ancient computer. Jarod and Caterina discovered a way for me to join the datastream connecting you." She looked over to the shower. "I..... did not anticipate what I would find."  
  
Zack grinned weakly. "Yeah."  
  
"Have you found a way out yet?", she asked.  
  
Zack leveled a look at her. "No." He shook his head. "And I honestly haven't been trying."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You're the mind-reading uberlady, you tell me," Zack remarked irritably.  
  
Meridina looked at him with concern. "You seem hostile. I... did not mean to intrude upon the fantasy the machine constructed."  
  
Zack leveled a look at her. As much as he'd known there was something off, having the memories come flooding back in by Meridina's presence _hurt_. He wasn't married to Julia at all. She still saw him as she always did, she didn't love him like he wanted her to.  
  
But Robert was still alive. Angel didn't hate him. Surely that made up for it?  
  
Zack was actually sick to feel that it _didn't_.  
  
"The device started to erode your memories. It made the simulation the real world to your senses," Meridina explained carefully. "And it formed that simulation from what it found inside you."  
  
From the bathroom a voice said, "Yes."  
  
They turned and faced Julia, now in normal duty uniform. But it was her and it wasn't. Her voice was echoing slightly, a second voice within it. Her skin began to take on a pinkish tint. "The being called Meridina is interfacing with me directly instead of through my remote connection," the fake Julia explained. "I cannot construct a world for her."  
  
"Indeed not," Meridina replied.  
  
"What are you?"  
  
The fake Julia looked at Zack with an expression of happiness... but with the demeanor of a pained being. "I am All That Remains. I am the Last Hope. And I have been alone for so many thousands of cycles." She walked up and pressed her hands to Zack's. "I never thought another being would be with me again. But then you took up my remote. I felt you, knew you to be as lonely as I. So I brought you here so we could be happy."  
  
"You are damaging his body," Meridina pointed out.  
  
"Only because you are here," the alien pointed out. "Leave us and Zachary will be fine. He will be with me and he will be loved. He will never be alone again."  
  
"He will be living a lie," Meridina pointed out. "And what of his friends? They will lose him."  
  
"He already lost them." The fake Julia sat beside Zachary and embraced him. "But here it will be okay."  
  
Meridina shook her head. "Zachary, please. Think of the others."  
  
Zack was staring off into space by this point. "This was all a lie?", he said to the fake Julia. "You took these bits from my head and built a lie I would accept?"  
  
"I created the world you wanted," the being replied. "I wanted you to be happy with me. And I know you were. I felt it in you."  
  
"You made me forget the real world," Zack charged.  
  
"No." Fake-Julia shook its - her? - head and brushed his chin with her hand. "Zachary, your memories of the world you knew slipped because nothing holds you to them. You are alone. I felt it, it is why I picked you. It is why I wanted to help you. To be with you. When we are together your mind gives up the old world to embrace what I offer."  
  
"You're not Julia, though."  
  
"I am everything she is in your mind." Her hands took his cheeks. "I became her for you. I showed you the love you've sought from her for so long. And once this being leaves you'll forget about this. We'll be together. We'll be happy."  
  
"It will be a lie. A simulation," Meridina reminded him. "It will kill your body. You'd be trapped in here forever."  
  
"You would be with me forever." The fake Julia pressed her lips to his.  
  
At first Zack was resistant to the kiss, barley letting their lips made contact. His heart ached at knowing the truth. But she was so loving, so insistant, that he relented. He let her kiss him and his hurt began to fade away. _This is my world_ passed through his head.  
  
Suddenly he was jerked back from the kiss. Meridina pulled him off and toward the other side of the room. The fake Julia scowled at her. Zack looked up at her in shock. "What did you do that for?!", he demanded.  
  
"Zachary, this thing is able to interfere with your mind," Meridina explained. "I sensed it. It's making you forget about your life."  
  
Zack looked at the doppelganger. He could feel his memories flooding back, as sharp as before. "What are you doing for me?"  
  
"I am easing your pain," fake-Julia explained. "Your memories of the old world will only make you confused. With me, it means nothing."  
  
"It is what made you who you are," Meridina reminded him. She looked to the being. "I know you mean no ill, but this is not the right thing. You are taking away his life to make your own existence happier."  
  
"I have seen his life, mind-walker," fake-Julia replied. "He would be happier here! He would be loved!"  
  
"Except by Angel," Zack pointed out. "Why did you have her hate me?"  
  
"The Angel it created hates you?", Meridina inquired.  
  
"She blames me for..." Zack swallowed. "Rob is..... dead here, Meridina."  
  
Meridina looked from Zack to the being. "Why would you remove Robert? He and Zachary are close, surely..."  
  
"I did not remove Robert Dale," the being informed them.  
  
"No?", Zack asked. "Then who did?!"  
  
Fake-Julia looked at him. "Why, you did my dear."  
  
Meridina sensed Zack's shock and disbelief. "What...?"  
  
"I created this world from the desires and feelings of your heart," fake-Julia explained. "Robert Dale is dead here. He is dead because you wanted it so."  
  
Meridina blinked and looked to Zack, who stared intently at the being wearing Julia's body. "No," he said. "No, he's, he's my friend. He's _my friend_ , dammit. I don't..."  
  
"But you do," the being said. "I felt it deep inside you, in the shadows of your being. I sensed your thoughts and I made it true."  
  
Zack stumbled back, missing the table chair. "No. _No_. I, I wouldn't!"  
  
"In this place.... you _did_. You killed Robert, Zachary."  
  
  
  
  
Julia was watching the big vessel intently when the timer wound down. "Unknown ship dropping into subluminal speed," Magda reported. The ship that appeared looked to be a winged vessel with similar coloring. It banked close to the larger one, clearly on a docking approach.  
  
"Life scans?"  
  
"Scanning now..." Magda looked up and back to Julia. "Reading several dozen Dorei life signs, Commander."  
  
"We got 'em." Julia put on her harness. "Code Red! Sherlily, lock weapons on their engines, I don't want them docking with that carrier. Navaez, send a signal to _Aurora_ , let them know we're engaging." _Hopefully they've sorted Zack out..._  
  
"Locking on, just give me the angle," Sherlily responded.  
  
"Giving it.... now."  
  
"Standby on the transporters," Julia ordered.  
  
The _Koenig_ turned to face the raider ship. Magda decloaked the ship as it accelerated to combat velocity. Power shifted through the vessel's distribution conduits, going from the cloaking device to the pulse phaser cannons and torpedo launchers. Amber fury erupted form _Koenig_ 's emitters and slammed into the engine ports on the vessel. A hull-tight field briefly coalesced before failing; explosions ripped through the engines and caused the vessel to lose its forward acceleration.  
  
"Direct hit," Sherlily reported. "It looks like their shields are tuned for kinetic resistance, the phasers were totally effective."  
  
"Are they tracking weapons?", Julia asked.  
  
"Negative, it looks like we took out part of their power systems," Magda answered.  
  
"Good. Cycle shields to transport the Dorei out. Magda, put me on, open hail."  
  
"You're on, sir."  
  
Julia cleared her throat. "Unknown vessels, this is Commander Julia Andreys of the Alliance _Starship Koenig_. You have taken prisoners from an Alliance colony and are ordered to stand down. Repeat, stand down."  
  
"That other ship is coming about, weapons hot" Apley warned. "I think we pissed these guys off."  
  
"First load of Dorei coming off now...."  
  
"We're being targeted," Magda warned.  
  
"Evasive maneuvers!"  
  
The _Koenig_ began to twist and turn through space. The big ship's turrets tracked and began firing. There were bursts of energy but no visible energy weapon fire. Nevertheless the ship rocked hard. "Shields holding at ninety percent," Magda reported. "I got the shields back up in time. First load of Dorei transported to the infirmary, Doctor Opani reports they're fine."  
  
The ship shook again slightly from a glancing hit. "What are they shooting us with?", Julia asked.  
  
"Looks like low cee-fractional rounds," Sherlily answered. "With a lot more power than they should have looking at their ship's power signature."  
  
"Their guns have a subspace field present," Magda added. "It looks almost like a mass-lightening field for a starship."  
  
"Whatever they are, they pack a punch," Apley pointed out. "I'll keep evasives up, but I don't think we should lower shields until we take those weapons out. It's going to ruin our day if we get hit without shields, even with the armor."  
  
"That carrier is moving toward the raider." Magda focused on her screens again. "I think they're going to try to grapple it at close range."  
  
"Then we'd better take them out of the fight. Target the big ship's weapon emplacements. Sherlily, fire when you've got a shot, torpedoes and phasers. Apley..."  
  
"I'll keep them from hitting us again, ma'am."  
  
The _Koenig_ turned and engaged her foe.  
  
  
  
  
The look of horror on Zack's face caused Meridina to put a hand on his shoulder. "Zachary, I have seen your heart," she said softly. "Your devotion to your friend is true. Whatever this thing has found..."  
  
"You set this thing up so that he died when the Daleks attacked the Facility," Zack said to the fake Julia. "Why did you pick that?"  
  
"I did not. I took it from your thoughts, my love," the being replied. "I shall show you."  
  
The quarters around them shifted. Suddenly they were on the bridge of the _Aurora_. Zack, Jarod, Caterina, and Locarno were visible on the bridge at various stations. "This is when you freed the ship during the Dalek attack, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," Zack murmured, walking up to where his counterpart was sitting at the tactical station, oblivious. It was as he remembered....  
  
Then it wasn't. He was watching his hands turning the tactical station into an auxiliary transporter control. The display showed him locking on to a life sign on the _Kelley_... even as another friendly one blipped strongly in the Facility structure near Control. _Julia and Rob_ , he thought. "I remember wishing I could have just beamed them out," he said. "I didn't dare. I wasn't good at it, and I didn't know if the Daleks would exploit it..."  
  
But the other him did. He finished the lock on and beamed Julia out. She materialized on the bridge, bewildered. "Send me back!", she shouted. "I'm trying to save Rob!"  
  
The other him looked down. He could get a lock on Robert. Zack urged him to do it. "Yeah, if you can get her," he muttered to himself, in more ways than one, "you can get him. Do it!"  
  
The other him didn't. He stared at the screen and then looked back up to Julia. "I'm sorry, I... I can't get a lock."  
  
Zack stared at his counterpart. _He's lying!_ He noticed the look on Meridina's face.  
  
"Then send me back to the _Kelley_!", she demanded. " _Send me back!_ "  
  
"I can't." Less of a lie, but still...  
  
" _Just get out of here!_ ", they heard Robert command. " _I'll delay them._ "  
  
"Rob, no! We'll beam you out!", Julia insisted, rushing for Secondary Tactical.  
  
" _It's too late. I... Goodbye everyone._ "  
  
" _ROBBY!_ ," Julia wailed.  
  
Zack looked down at his counterpart's screen again. Robert's life sign entered Facility Control. Sensors picked up energy fire, but nothing removed the signatures of the Daleks. _He's shooting the controls to keep them from using them_ , Zack realized. " _Beam him out dammit! Do it now!_ "  
  
His counterpart merely watched quietly, oblivious to him.  
  
Robert's life sign disappeared.  
  
"I'm sorry, Julie," his counterpart said. "Rob's... he's gone." His counterpart's voice was hoarse with grief and..... conflict?  
  
Meridina remained silent, looking from the fake Zack to the real one, while Julia collapsed on the bridge deck and started crying. Around them the _Aurora_ was moving to the portal out of the Facility, heading to safety. The other Zack got up and went to Julia, taking her in his arms and letting her cry.  
  
"That's not...", Zack breathed. "That's not how it happened."  
  
"It's how you wish it had happened," Fake Julia said.  
  
" _No it damn well isn't!_ ," Zack screamed at her. "I would never leave Rob to die!"  
  
"But you thought these things, my love," the fake replied. "It's in your mind. I saw them."  
  
Zack stared at her in horror. He backpedaled until he hit the wall and could slide down to being seated. As this happened his mind raced and he felt his heart grow heavy. He'd never kill Rob. He'd never...  
  
But.... he'd had the occasional dream, hadn't he? What if his friend had gone off to a heroic end and left the field open for him to be with Julia. No harm in thoughts of what might have been since they'd not happened, right?  
  
And maybe, just maybe, a devil on his shoulder talking about how it'd be okay if it happened because he'd have what he wanted...  
  
Zack swallowed if only to prevent himself from throwing up.  
  
  
  
  
Caterina looked up from another scan of Meridina's brain. "Everything seems normal. I mean.... nothing's changed since we put her in."  
  
Jarod looked up from where he was on a knee, scanning the base of the device. "That's a good sign. I'm still not having any luck in finding an off switch." He tapped his display several times. "This thing was used, Cat."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Back when it was made. There's still minuscule bits of data in the backup RAM sections. Someone fired it up and then it was turned off, or forcefully shut down." Jarod tapped a few more keys. "I wish I could find a way to see what happened. If we see how their startup sequence went, it might tell us a safe shutdown."  
  
  
  
  
The _Koenig_ bridge rattled as more shots pounded the attack ship's shields. "Shields down to fifty percent," Magda reported. "The last hit did some damage to our dorsal armor."  
  
On the screen more phaser fire erupted, slamming through the big raider-carrier's shields and blowing apart one of its turrets. "How close are they to that crippled raider?", Julia asked.  
  
"Less than one hundred kilometers now," Apley answered. "At this rate we're not going to be able to stop them from grappling."  
  
"Then let's do something else. Bring us back to the raider." Julia tapped a button to connect to engineering. "Derbely, I need all power to shields, engines, and the tractor beam."  
  
" _Roger_."  
  
Apley had figured it out. "I'm bringing us in to tractor the raider."  
  
"Locking tractor beam on."  
  
Julia didn't have to give the actual order. As they moved by the crippled vessel a blue beam erupted from the _Koenig_ 's belly and grabbed the ship. The _Koenig_ manuevered hard, evading several shots as it did so, and in doing so pulled the raider away so its mother ship couldn't grapple it.  
  
"They're adjusting course to compensate," Apley reported.  
  
"I'm picking up new energy signatures, Commander," Magda warned. "They're launching vessels!"  
  
More ships like the raider they'd crippled appeared, twinned with small strike fighters. The enemy forces spread into three formations and moved toward _Koenig_. "They're going to try and box us in," Julia remarked. "Apley, maintain evasives, give Sherlily shots whenever you can."  
  
"Aye sir."  
  
  
  
  
The being wearing Julia's form looked intently at Zack. "You are upset. Let me help you."  
  
Zack looked past her to Meridina. "I should stay here, you know," he mumbled. "They'd be better without me."  
  
"You are wrong," Meridina said.  
  
"Am I? _Look at this!_ " He stretched his hand out to the now-frozen vista around them, his mirror image holding a sobbing Julia closely with a mixed expression on his face. "I... I don't want to be this."  
  
"You're not."  
  
"You heard her!" Zack pointed to the fake Julia. "This is from me! There's a part of me, deep down, that would kill my best friend!"  
  
"We all have darkness inside of us, Zachary." Meridina's expression was one of understanding and a bit of sadness. She approached him and knelt beside him. "I have seen your heart. It is one of light. You are a good man who loves his friends and would do anything for them."  
  
"For what, though?", fake Julia asked. "They pulled him into a life he did not want. The one he loves will never accept him. What have they left him, mindwalker?"  
  
"Their love, their affection," Meridina answered. "They will always be there for you, Zachary. Always. You know this in your heart."  
  
Zack blinked tears in his eyes. "How can I face them again knowing I'm capable of something like this?"  
  
"Zachary, just because the darkness within you has created thoughts does not mean you would fulfill them," Meridina took his hand. "Please, Zachary. It's time for you to come home."  
  
Zack looked at her with bloodshot eyes. "I, I...."  
  
"I won't let you take him, mindwalker!", the fake Julia declared. "I've been alone for so long, I won't let you!"  
  
Meridina turned and tried to defend herself, but the fake Julia was impossibly quick here, in her habitat. She was suddenly on top of Meridina, her hand gripping Meridina's face on the temples, forehead, and sides of the chin.  
  
Meridina screamed.  
  
  
  
  
The scream got the attention of both Cat and Jarod. Jarod looked up from the machinery as Cat ran her scanner over Meridina. "The device is pouring large emounts of energy into her brain, I think it's attacking her!", Cat cried.  
  
"Cut the connection!", Jarod yelled. "Cut the...."  
  
Caterina was already on it, using the controls set up in her multidevice to cut the datastream. The blue light pressing into Meridina's head disappeared. She sucked in pained breaths and remained laying there, almost immobile. "You didn't press anything, did you?", Cat asked cautiously.  
  
"Nothing," Jarod confirmed. "The device attacked her."  
  
Meridina let out a low moan but didn't awake. "And it really got her, I'm not sure how long it'll be before she can wake up," Caterina said. "We should have her beamed up."  
  
"Agreed." Jarod brought up his multidevice and triggered it. "Jarod to _Aurora_..."  
  
There was a sudden rumble that grew until it threw them off their feet. Explosions echoed in the distance and dust and rock fell over them as the cavern shook with brutal intensity. "What..?!"  
  
"The signal..." Jarod pulled himself up as the shaking stopped. "It looks like there was some kind of buildup in the device triggered by our devices' communication signals. Once it detected an active transmission not linked to the device, the buildup triggered and blew out a couple of the secondary reactors. These old shafts weren't meant for that kind of explosive power."  
  
Caterina's face paled as she finished her scans. "So we're stuck here?"  
  
"Until they can dig us out," Jarod confirmed. "Yes, we're stuck here."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is drawn into a false world created by an alien artifact; Julia takes command of the Koenig to investigate an attack on an Alliance colony.

Zack watched Meridina disappear from the grip of the device being. "What did you do to her?!", he demanded.  
  
"The others removed her from my systems," the being replied in its melodic cadence. "They have been poking around my shell for some time."  
  
"Why did you attack her? She's just trying to help me."  
  
"She was trying to take you away from me," the being protested. "It will not matter. She exists here too. You will know her." She approached him. "Let us be together. Nothing else will matter."  
  
Around them the room returned to the Captain's Quarters. She approached Zack, her intent clear. As she reached for him, he stepped out of reach. This made her look at him. "What is wrong?"  
  
"You want me to be on your side when you're willing to hurt people?" Zack shook his head. "No."  
  
"Please, Zachary Carrey. Here we are together. You will never age. You will never know pain."  
  
"I'll be in a heaven I didn't earn," Zack retorted. He drew in a breath. It sounded so good, so tempting. Forget the life he'd left behind and live here forever.  
  
 _In a world where I killed my best friend._  
  
"I can undo that if you wish," the being answered, seeing his thoughts. "I did not realize that not all of your thoughts were part of what you truly were. I can rewrite the world. You would have Julia. Robert would be alive and happy too. I sense you think he would be with the one called Angel?"  
  
That was his fantasy, wasn't it? He'd have Julia and Robert and Angel would be happy together. They'd all have families and little babies and see the Multiverse. Everyone would win. Everyone would be happy.  
  
 _I'm not supposed to be happy. I don't deserve to be happy._  
  
"Zachary, please..."  
  
The pleading sounded genuine, equal parts longing and fright. Zack felt his temptation grow. Why not let it rewrite this world to make everyone happy? he could live here forever. Forever with...  
  
...with what, exactly?  
  
"What are you?", Zack asked. "You're not just some machine." He reached up and stroked her chin. "You're alive too, aren't you?"  
  
"I am..... I am....." The being froze.  
  
"You said you were all that remained. A last hope? But what actually made you? What are you meant to be?" Zack gestured to the room. "It can't be this, can it?"  
  
"I..." The being stared at him with Julia's emerald eyes, hurt and fear in its expression. "I am All That Remains. I am The Last Hope. I... I am Gylao, a whisper of Gylao."  
  
"Who was Gylao?", Zack asked.  
  
The figure closed its eyes. Julia's form gave way to a humanoid figure, female, almost Human like in proportion but with dry pink flesh. Purple eyes, the color of amethysts, looked at him. "I am a construct. And I am Gylao. But I am not Gylao."  
  
Zack put his hands on her hands. She had only three fingers with a thumb instead of four. "You're.... you're rather beautiful," he said to her. "Can you explain what you mean by that? You are Gylao but not Gylao?"  
  
The being looked confused. "I, Gylao, was a researcher of computational constructs. I found ways to imprint minds into them. To give life to them, direction. It was our only hope. Our only chance for something of our people to survive."  
  
"Why? What happened?"  
  
"Destruction. Slaughter. My people were being taken and destroyed..." The being tapped her head. "Gylao volunteered. The process began. Her mind began to merge with the computational mind she had made. But something happened. The enemy... found us. I can feel Gylao's last thoughts as she was torn from the machine. Her despair and sadness. She hadn't put her memories of her family in yet. Nothing of her people would be preserved. She would..... I would be alone." Blue tears gathered at the being's eyes. "They took everything from me."  
  
"What do you remember then?", Zack asked. He brought her hands up to his face. "Show me."  
  
Images flashed through his mind. Beautiful turquoise structures rising to the sky, starships milling about between them. The laughter of children, oh so faint, and happiness...  
  
And then there was fire. The turquoise structures were ablaze and collapsing. Dead bodies strewn in the streets... while other pink bodies like Gylao's hunted down the living. Ships burned in the sky. "They came from beyond. They showed no mercy," the being wept. "They destroyed my... our... everything."  
  
Zack looked up as a massive metal shape moved among a distant gaggle of people. The image was blurry. "What were they?"  
  
"They gave no name. They came upon us, taking everyone, killing any who resisted, and turning our own people into slaves." The being pressed herself against Zack. "I only remember the devastation they caused. It's all I have. This is all I've known."  
  
  
  
  
Caterina was still at Meridina's side, monitoring her condition. "She needs help," Caterina said.  
  
"I know," Jarod answered. "But we're all going to suffocate in the next few days if we odn't get out of here." He checked his multidevice. "Dammit, no signal. We don't have enough power to get through the interference..." He looked back to the device and walked up to it. "But it's still transmitting to Zack. It has the power."  
  
"So, you're going to rig it as a transmitter?", Caterina asked.  
  
"I'm going to try," Jarod answered, heading back to the device.  
  
  
  
  
The _Koenig_ twisted to avoid another shot from the carrier and kept a bead on one of the raiders. A fighter coming form "above" was speared repeatedly by the dorsal phaser bank until it exploded in a red fireball. The _Koenig_ 's bow weapons came to life, their amber fury slamming into the raider ship. It broke off after two hits, spewing flame and debris but not yet out of the fight. Its buddies fired into the _Koenig_ 's path, their mass-altered rounds slamming into the ship's shields.  
  
"Shields down to thirty percent!", Magda cried over the rumble.  
  
"I can't shake them." Apley said.  
  
"So let's make them be careful with their shots." Julia examined the tactical display. "On my mark, Attack Plan Indigo and then full impulse to the carrier."  
  
"Roger that."  
  
The ship rocked again. One of the consoles in the rear of the bridge sent a shower of sparks upward from feedback. "Some kind of energy torpedoes!", Magda shouted. "Shields at twenty percent!"  
  
"Mark!"  
  
The _Koenig_ 's engines flipped the ship and sent it into a loop. It righted after turning one hundred and eighty degrees and raced back toward the enemy carrier. "They're not trying to grapple the cripple anymore," Julia remarked.  
  
"I think seeing our tractor beam has them more interested in us," Magda pointed out.  
  
"So it seems." The ship rattled again from a partial hit. "Apley, think you can keep us by that carrier and make them be careful with their shots?"  
  
"I'll try!"  
  
  
  
  
For the moment Zack could only embrace the being. "You've been alone with this for how long?", he asked.  
  
"Over two hundred and fifty thousand years," the being replied. "I was not turned off entirely. I simply existed in a backup state."  
  
"Oh God." His hug grew tighter. "You've been alone for so long."  
  
"That is why I called to you, Zachary. You felt alone. I believed that you would welcome being with me. And your world was so complete that I preferred it to the few memories I had."  
  
"I understand." Zack drew in a breath and felt hot tears in his eyes. All of that time, utterly alone? It'd drive any being mad. _I could stay_ , he thought. _Why not? She could... wait, are these my thoughts or her's?_ "  
  
"I cannot help it," the being cried. "I want you, Zachary! You have so much life! You've seen so much! Oh please don't leave me!"  
  
"I'm..." Zack drew in a breath. "How are my friends? How are Meridina and the others?"  
  
"Gylao" looked at him pensively. "They... triggered a trap left by our destroyers long ago. So that no survivors of my people could access the device. They are trapped in the chamber with my device."  
  
Zack's eyes widened. He gripped her shoulders. "Can we get them out?!"  
  
"No. There is nothing..." Gylao's face lowered. "Your friend Jarod is clever. He is trying to tap into the signal we share. He will use the power I expend to keep us together to contact your ship."  
  
Zack cracked a smile. "Yeah, he's good at that."  
  
"I will stop him," she answered. "If we lose the connection, you will not come back. Your friends will take the connector. I'll be alone again."  
  
"Wait, no!" Zack gripped her arms. "Gylao, if you do that my friends will _die_."  
  
"Not in here," she insisted. "Please, don't make me be alone."  
  
"They're my friends, Gylao. Please." Zack felt tears in his eyes. "You saw how I felt at the idea of killing just one. You're asking me to let you kill three."  
  
"But I don't want to be alone again!", she cried.  
  
His horror for his friends being buried alive warred with his sympathy for this poor, broken woman. He could see the pain inside of her in a way that just looking at one's eyes couldn't; the connection they shared let him see _so much more_. _All she's had for these thousands of years is visions of destruction. She doesn't even understand right from wrong, she just feels pain._ Zack swallowed. _What am I going to do?_  
  
  
  
  
A cry made Cat look up from where she had been observing Meridina's sleeping form. Jarod stumbled back from the open part of the device, nursing one of his hands. "Dammit!", he shouted.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"This thing fed energy into the systems as I was looking through them," Jarod responded. "I can't move my left hand."  
  
Caterina ran up and knelt beside him, her scanner switched to him. His left hand was blackened and damaged. "My God, you took a direct hit from a plasma stream. You're lucky you still have a hand."  
  
"Cat..." Jarod looked at her, frowning. "Cat, this thing is fighting it. I can't make it work. I'm sorry." He swallowed. "I've failed again."  
  
"Don't be silly. We'll make it work." Cat gave him a hug. "You're brilliant, we'll find a way. We'll find..."  
  
She stopped talking. Both began to choke as gas seeped quietly into the blocked chamber.  
  
  
  
  
"I have activated the security measures to protect my core," Gylao informed Zack. "They won't suffer, Zachary."  
  
Zack looked at her in abject horror. "You're going to _kill them?!_ "  
  
"I know it would hurt you if they died slowly," Gylao said. "I will end their lives quickly. They won't feel pain."  
  
" _You're still killing my friends!_ ," Zack thundered.  
  
"It's the only way," Gylao insisted. "It's the only way! I won't let you go, Zachary! I won't be alone again! _I won't!_ "  
  
"Gylao, _please let me save my friends!_ ," Zack insisted. "I'll never be happy if I know you killed them!"  
  
"I'll remove the memory from you, Zachary, it'll be fine."  
  
"No, no you damned well won't," Zack retorted. "You said that you were able to suppress my memories of the world because I didn't care for it? Fine. I've been alone and lost for a long damned time now. But you know what? I've got _something_ in the real world, and it's _them_. I'll _never_ let go of their memories. If you do this to me, I'll suffer forever knowing they died because of me. And I'll hate both of us for it."  
  
"Zachary, don't... _please don't make me be alone again_. Not _here_. Not with this! I, I can't even remember my children, Zachary! I only remember the killing and the flames and the crumbling cities! Please!"  
  
Zack swallowed. What could he do? How could he make this work? _If only someone like Rob or Meridina had touched that damn thing, they might've... might've..._  
  
 _The device!_  
  
"Gylao, what can that connecting device do?", Zack suddenly asked. "The one that connects us."  
  
"It was made for my people to upload others remotely, if it could be done," she explained. "It was lost in the final attack. Never used. Never activated until I felt you."  
  
"So it can be used to upload me into here?", he asked. "Like Gylao was?"  
  
"Maybe," she said. "But it was only meant to take imprints, memories so people could have their lives remembered. The power needed to connect to you strongly enough to load you remotely may harm your physical form."  
  
"But it'd let you shunt power to communications," Zack said. "It'd let you allow Jarod and Caterina to call for help."  
  
"Yes. But Zachary, the physical damage you would suffer, your brain could be damaged, even destroyed, and if the loading doesn't complete the imprint here would be just as damaged as mine."  
  
Zack nodded. "I understand. But those are my friends. I'm not going to let them die. And this way.... you'll have me here with you too, right? Even if I don't remember everything about my life, I'll remember enough. And you won't be alone again."  
  
"Yes." Gylao took his hands. "I do not understand why you would risk these things."  
  
"Don't worry." Zack smiled at her. "You will." He put her hands up to his face. "Let's do this."  
  
  
  
  
Robert was jolted awake as Zack's scream echoed through the medbay. Leo sat up from where he was looking over reports. "Oh my God," he said. "His EEG is going off the charts!"  
  
" _Captain!_ " The signal was from the bridge, coming from one of the other science officers. " _Captain, the transmission from the planet is intensifying! It's power has tripled!_ "  
  
"It's killing him!", Leo shouted. "Get me 20ccs of Neurosin, now!" He looked to the Alakin nurse from before.  
  
"20ccs of Neuro?! Doctor, that..."  
  
"His brain is going to literally fry!", Leo shouted. "I need that neuro sedative now!"  
  
"Bridge, get Jarod and Caterina, I need to talk to them!"  
  
" _We can't, sir. There's interference and we can't read their comms anymore!_ "  
  
 _Oh God, no!_  
  
The Alakin rushed back in with a hypospray. Leo grabbed it from him and brought it up to Zack's neck.  
  
Zack's eyes opened. HIs left hand came up and grabbed Leo's wrist in a death grip, holding the hypo away. "Don't. Do. Anything!", he rasped.  
  
"Zack?!" Leo looked down at him. "Zack, how are you awake?! The signal is frying your brain, you need this...!"  
  
" _No! It'll ruin everything!_ " With sheer agony written on his features, Zack forced down a breath and continued. "They're dying down there! Beam them up! _Beam them up!_ "  
  
  
  
  
Jarod coughed again, holding an emergency breather from his field kit over his face. Despite the breather the gas filling the chamber was going to suffocate him. He looked down to where Cat was already struggling to stay conscious, her lips turning blue as the gas slowly killed her. _I'm not going to let us die down here_ , he thought. He struggled back to the core of the device and, despite his useless left hand, reached in with the right to look for the signal connector he'd seen before he was struck with plasma.  
  
Energy was surging through the system now, only now starting to die off. He had to wait several crucial seconds, making his lungs feel like they were going to burst. _It's my only shot_ , he thought. As soon as the power went down enough he grabbed the connector and placed it into one of the adaptive jacks of his multidevice. Alien characters flowed over his display screen. He let out another hacking cough as his left hand weakly tapped the appropriate key; a simple SOS now, but his multi-device was actively connected to Meridina's and Cat's; the _Aurora_ 's transporters would be able to rescue them.  
  
It was the last thing he was able to do before blackness claimed him.  
  
  
  
  
Barnes raced into Transporter Station 2 and almost pushed the petite Vietnamese girl there out of the way. "I can't get a locK!", the petty officer protested. "The interference..."  
  
"I know, but they've only got seconds!" Barnes ran his hands over the controls. Scotty had shown him a few tricks over the last couple of years... _Filter out the energy fields... okay, no chance of using IR lock... skeletal lock? Yeah, that'd be messy if I messed that up.... wait!_ Barnes hit his multidevice's comm. "Scotty, this is Tom! I'm going to try a direct signal lock, can you get the sensors' resolution tight enough?!"  
  
" _It's a risk, lad, but Ah'll give ye what Ah can!_ "  
  
"Good!" Barnes manipulated the controls. _C'mon Cat, c'mon J-man, I'm not going to let you go_.... His systems went green with a signal lock. "Energizing now!" He ran his fingers up the main control.  
  
Light coalesced on the transporter as three humanoid forms materialized. When the light faded Jarod, Cat, and Meridina were laid out on the pad. "Barnes to Medbay, prepare to receive emergency medical transport!"  
  
" _Send them on!_ "  
  
 _I got 'em. I got them!_ Barnes worked the transporter again to beam them into Leo's waiting care. After the light from the transporter died down he let out a whoop. "Damn I'm _good!_ "  
  
  
  
  
Zack's groans of agony were still filling the special care ward, but his grip was still on Leo's wrist. The device shined blue on his forehead. "Almost," he murmured. "Almost."  
  
"Zack, this thing is going to kill you!", Leo said.  
  
"Won't leave her alone," Zack insisted. His head felt like it wanted to split open and he wondered if it would explode before it was all over.  
  
The blue light on the device ended. The thing literally fell off his forehead, landing on his chest. "Done," he muttered before laying his head back on the pillow and losing consciousness again.  
  
Leo quickly checked his vitals. "EEGs returning to normal."  
  
"How badly is he hurt?", Robert asked.  
  
"I'll need to do some scans first. The fact he was awake and cognizant is good, though." Leo led Robert out to the rest of the medbay. The emergency area had the landing party laying in beds being attended to. None were conscious yet. "I'll have to find out what they were exposed to before I can tell you anything," he explained.  
  
" _Bridge to Captain Dale_ ," Locarno said. " _Sir, Governor Yalama is hailing us. He demands to know what happened at the dig site._ "  
  
"Tell him I'll be right with him. What have we heard from the _Koenig_?"  
  
" _They've engaged an enemy ship at M4P2-G1SV, they believe it responsible for the attack on Yamalia._ "  
  
"Set course to M4P2-G1SV then, maximum warp."  
  
" _Aye sir._ "  
  
Robert lowered his arm and looked at Leo. "Now I get to deal with an angry colonial governor. The Admiral is going to rip me a new one."  
  
"You did the right thing," Leo replied. "Don't worry about it."  
  
"Keep me up to date on their progress." Robert turned and left the medbay.  
  
  
  
  
The _Koenig_ let loose another spread of torpedoes that blew out a turret on the carrier. Fire still came in, but only from two angles, letting Apley avoid more of it. Another hit slammed into their ventral armor. "Shields going critical," Magda warned. "Below ten percent, we're going to lose them if we don't get out of here."  
  
"If we warp out who knows where they'll take the rest of those poor Dorei," Julia insisted. "Apley, Sherlily, see if you can target their engines, let's see if we can hobble this carrier too."  
  
"If I can give Sherlily a shot, I will," Apley promised. "But this is getting..."  
  
"Subspace spike!", Magda shouted. "That object out by the gas giant, I'm showing a _massive_ subspace spike!"  
  
In the distance energy surged. A ship suddenly appeared beside the object, accelerating away from it and toward them. "Put the unknown ship on my viewer," Julia ordered. When it appeared as a holographic projection, she could see it looked different from their attackers. Gray with blue trim, a long but thin starship with guns on the bow. She could almost lake out a symbol on the side of the bow...  
  
"They're sending out an open hail, putting it on speaker," Magda reported.  
  
A deep voice came over the speaker. " _This is Captain David Anderson of the_ SSV Tokyo _to Batarian vessels. You are ordered to stand down immediately and prepare for boarding._ "  
  
"M4P2's Humans," Julia murmured.  
  
"Enemy ships are turning away from the _Tokyo_. I think they're preparing to engage their superluminal drives."  
  
"I don't want them running. Take the carrier's engines out, now!"  
  
The _Koenig_ exploited the sudden change in the enemy's maneuvering to thread the needle between two raiders and clear the carrier. As they passed the aft of the carrier Sherlily fired the aft torpedo launchers. The torpedoes slammed into the engines of the carrier, creating large explosions in the aft section. "Their shields absorbed some of it...."  
  
"Attack Plan Whiskey! All power to weapons!"  
  
The _Koenig_ whipped around. Their pulse phasers blazed. Bolts of amber energy slammed into the engine ports, blowing away hull material and other debris. One engine died and then the next.  
  
The _Tokyo_ made the range and opened fire, focusing its attacks on the smaller raiders. It had the same mass driver weapons with mass-lightening fields as the "Batarian" ships; the rounds it fired slammed into one of the raiding ships and disabled it.  
  
"While we have our chance, see if we can beam the Dorei off that first raider," Julia ordered.  
  
"Shields are so low it shouldn't be hard, we'll do cyclic transports this time." Magda began doing so.  
  
"Sherlily, target the nearest raider," Julia ordered. "Let's make it clear who's side we're on."  
  
  
  
  
" _This is an outrage, Captain Dale!_ ," Governor Yalama protested. " _The damage to the dig site is extensive and who knows how much damage..._ "  
  
"If my people hadn't triggered it, your's would have eventually, Governor," Robert replied. He was in his office on the bridge, dealing with the most annoying and least important matter on his plate right now. "All recordings from the multidevices of our landing party bear me out. There was some ancient trap down there, the moment your people tried to send a full signal from that device chamber it would've set off the explosions."  
  
" _If your people had taken more care, Captain, it would not have happened! According to your own testimony one of your people interfaced with the core! That was irresponsible and..._ "  
  
"And necessary to save our officer."  
  
" _The Dorei Federal authorities will hear of this, Captain, and so will your superiors! I'll make sure of it!_ " Yalama's face vanished.  
  
"Jerk," Robert grumbled. He pressed the intercom. "Dale to Medbay. Leo, any updates?"  
  
" _They're coming to, Robert. If you want to speak with them..._ "  
  
"I'm on my way."  
  
  
  
  
Even if their lungs still burned, the landing party had moved from their wards to the special care ward where Zack was still quiet, joining Robert and Barnes there. "It looks like he's sleeping more than outright unconscious," Leo said. "Which is a relief. His brain was damaged by the energy pulse but not so much that we can't use regenerative therapy to repair it, and after a month or so he should be fine."  
  
"How will it effect him?", Robert asked.  
  
"He won't have any problems with motor skills or memory, just headaches." Leo put a hand on the control station. "I'm already doing the paperwork for light duty."  
  
"Well, at least he'll have more time for the holodeck," Barnes said, smirking.  
  
"No," Leo insisted. "When I mean light duty, I mean keeping activity low too. He is not going to be partying on the holodeck. I want him doing nothing more strenuous than reading reports."  
  
"At least he's okay," Cat said. "We did it."  
  
There was general agreement. Meridina stood silent on the issue, though. She had her own concerns for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is drawn into a false world created by an alien artifact; Julia takes command of the Koenig to investigate an attack on an Alliance colony.

_Ship's Log: 14 April 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. The_ Aurora _has remained at System M4P2-G1SV to help with the cleanup of the battle with the raiders that attacked Yamalia. In the meantime I have invited Captain Anderson of the_ Tokyo _, representing the Systems Alliance, to meet with me and discuss preliminary arrangements for formal contact between our respective Alliances.  
  
I am pleased to report that Commander Zachary Carrey is up and about, although Doctor Gillam's light duty orders are in full effect. I'm hoping Zack will take the time to heal and to enjoy himself after the close call he just suffered._  
  
Zack was looking out of the internal windows for the _Koenig_ 's dock. He didn't pay attention to Julia walking up beside him, trying to focus his view on his scarred ship. "Sorry for getting her roughed up," Julia said.  
  
"It's fine. Between Karen and Tom... a week and she'll be fine." Zack forced himself to not turn his head. He couldn't trust himself with looking at her green eyes and seeing her lips, so inviting to him. The memory of kissing her in the construct world, of holding her close and making love to her, was still painfully fresh. "Thank you for bringing her back."  
  
"You're welcome." Julia smiled at him. "Don't worry. You'll be better in no time, Zack. And you'll be taking her back out."  
  
"I know," he said absentmindedly. _I know what you're going to do, please don't..._  
  
Unfortunately, his mental plea could not be heard. Julia put her arms around him in a tight hug. "You gave us all a scare, Zack. I... I don't know what we'd do if something happened to you."  
  
 _I love you Julie._ A part of him wanted to say it. Just say it and accept the consequences. Anything, even rejection, would be better than this _torture_. "Uh, thank you."  
  
Julia finished the hug. "Well, I'd better go take up the bridge watch. We've got Captain Anderson up in the conference room and Rob's giving him the whole 'Multiverse' briefing. Want to join him? I know Leo said light duty but just watching can't break that, right?"  
  
"I'll pass," Zack said. "I'm heading to the Outlook for some lunch."  
  
"Oh. Okay, enjoy it then. See if Hargert has any of that roast beef left. Better than Mrs. Dale's." Julia smiled at him. "See you around."  
  
Zack watched her go and took a pained breath in. A thought came to his mind, on just how far he'd go to have her again like he did in that construct world.  
  
He stopped the thought, mostly because he didn't think he could stand the answer.  
  
  
  
  
Robert was sitting quietly with Captain Anderson at his side. The older man was finishing a tablet covering some of the data Robert was authorized to share with him. "I'll be damned," Anderson said softly. "There's an entire Multiverse out there."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"The year isn't even the same from what you've said."  
  
"2641 is the current calendar we're using univ... multiversally. While you're..."  
  
"2181," Anderson answered. "And everything is so different for you. There are alien races we don't have here," he continued. "Technology we've never seen. You don't even use mass effect fields like we do."  
  
"Subspace mass lightening for sublight maneuvering is about it," Robert confirmed.  
  
"Technology like this could change our galaxy forever," Anderson remarked. "Your warp drives can go further and faster than anything we've got outside of the Mass Relays."  
  
"I'd be lying if I claimed we don't want to take a Mass Relay apart and look at how it works," Robert replied. "Interstellar civilization in your galaxy having pan-galactic capability is what will get us thinking. We've only seen one society with claims to that extent and they're not the friendliest." Thoughts of the Goa'uld went through his head.  
  
"We're just stuck to the Relays," Anderson mused. "I've already sent recordings of my preliminary contact with Commander Andreys back to Arcturus. It's going to have the admiralty and Parliament going crazy. And when the Citadel Council finds out... I can't imagine how they'll take it."  
  
"You don't think they'll take it well?", Robert asked.  
  
"We've been a part of the galaxy for under twenty-five years, Captain Dale, and in that time Humanity has become one of the most prominent races in the galaxy when we're centuries, even thousands of years behind the other Council races." Anderson shook his head. "The other races can't decide if they want to be our friend or if they'd rather put a fence around us. And you've seen what the Batarians think of us. Now they're going to find out there's an entire Multiverse out there where Humans are the most common species." Anderson chuckled bitterly. "That's going to stir things up."  
  
"Hopefully they'll recognize that the Alliance isn't just Human."  
  
"It's going to change everything. I..." There was a tone. An orange holographic interface appeared over Anderson's right forearm. He brought the arm up and tapped a blinking orange light. "Anderson here."  
  
" _Engineering teams have finished stabilizing the carrier's drives. We're ready to take it back to Arcturus._ "  
  
"Good. It'll make the Council happy to hear that this band of Batarian slavers is out of commission. Tell Commander Shepard not to wait for us."  
  
" _I'll relay the word, sir._ "  
  
Anderson stood. "It's been good meeting you, Captain Dale. I hope to see you again."  
  
"The same, Captain Anderson." Robert extended his hand and accepted the older man's handshake. "As another starship captain I've met would put it... _bon voyage_ , Captain Anderson."  
  
"Take care of yourselves out here," Anderson answered.  
  
  
  
  
Caterina was running scan after scan of the mass relay on her systems while ignoring the look on Angel's face. "I'm perfectly fine," she insisted. "Just a couple little coughs."  
  
"You _almost died_ , Cat," Angel said reproachfully. "You need to take it easy."  
  
"I _am_ ," Cat insisted. "I've got Lieutenant Adjo going over the Adrana relics."  
  
"That's not what I meant! You need to be in bed!"  
  
"Oh come on." Caterina took a deep breath. It hurt to breathe still, but she'd had worse. This wasn't even bronchitis level yet.  
  
"I mean it."  
  
"I'll go rest as soon as I finish the first scans of the local mass relay." Cat clapped her hands together in barely restrained excitement. "I remember these things being in the Darglan database back in the Facility! I've been waiting for so long to see real ones! Subspace tunneling! Quantum wave formations! It's _awesome_ , it's like... it's like combining a warp drive and a wormhole in one!"  
  
"Cat..." Angel used her stern voice.  
  
"Just let me..." A red light blinked on her display. "That's odd."  
  
"What?" Angel stepped up. "What is it?"  
  
"We still have part of the Darglan Database in our computers," Caterina pointed out. "They recognize the mass relay. And they have a _warning flag_ on it."  
  
"A warning flag?", Angel asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's... basically, the Darglan thought there was something dangerous about this technology. Something beyond the possibility of mis-using it," Caterina explained. "I wonder why?"  
  
"Is it in the database?"  
  
Caterina checked. "Nope."  
  
"Well, make a report on it." Angel crossed her arms. "And then _go to bed_."  
  
"Yes big sis," Caterina sighed.  
  
  
  
  
 **Tag**  
  
  
  
  
Zack looked up from the bar in the Lookout. Albert offered him a glass of root beer. He waved it away. "Give me...." Zack swallowed. "Tequila."  
  
Albert's expression turned to concern. "Commander?"  
  
"Tequila. That good stuff I know Hargert keeps. Just bring the bottle and a glass here."  
  
Albert's face was still full of concern, but he did as instructed. "I hope you are okay, sir. You've gone through so much."  
  
"I don't even want to talk about it." Zack gave him a slight wave to ask him to leave. Albert did so, taking one last look at him. His gaze turned to the dark amber liquid in the bottle.  
  
He knew it was stupid. He was depressed. Alcohol was a depressant. It wouldn't help him. But the thought of just burying his pain underneath a flood of liquor appealed. It was the usual Carrey family reaction to this, wasn't it? Drink yourself into a gentle stupor where life's failures just... stopped mattering?  
  
His hand reached for the bottle.  
  
 _I shouldn't be like this_ , he thought. _I've lived with my feelings for this long, I can go on. I can find someone else, can't I?_  
  
Zack let himself think about kissing Julia again. Pain filled his heart, knowing he could never have that. She wasn't going to love him.  
  
And to think that there was a part of him that would hurt Robert, his dearest friend...  
  
He opened the bottle.  
  
 _No. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and just get on with life_ , Zack insisted to himself. _You'll find someone else. You won't be alone forever._  
  
He stared at the open bottle. It would be so easy to drink a shot or two. To feel the buzz and deaden the pain. But if he could drink a shot or two, he might end up with a third. And a fourth. Soon he'd be drunk. He'd be just like his dad....  
  
Zack forced a breath from his lungs and put the bottle down. He returned the cap to it and slid it away. Without saying anything else, he left the Lookout.  
  
Upon arriving at his quarters, he only had time to remove the uniform jacket before the door tone went off. "Come on in," he called out. He turned and saw Meridina enter in far enough to cause the door to close. "Commander."  
  
"Zachary. We need not stand on rank here."  
  
"Okay, Meridina." He turned to face her. "I'm happy you're okay."  
  
"I was not damaged as you were," she replied. "I have read the reports. You did the right thing with the being in the system."  
  
"Yeah, I guess." Zack pulled up a table chair and sat in it in reverse, his arms on the back of the chair. "And what about your report?"  
  
Meridina looked at him with compassion. "You are asking if I put what I saw?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess I am."  
  
"My report, Zachary, stated that the device turned your innermost desires into a constructed world to make you feel at ease. I did not give details. I will never give details. It would be wrong, a violation of Swenya's Code."  
  
Zack nodded. "Thank you."  
  
"I cannot imagine it has been easy for you." Meridina approached him and took a seat, although the chair she used was placed conventionally. "You must have felt like you were in the world you wanted."  
  
"Until I found out it involved leaving my best friend to die, yes," Zack answered drolly. "I, I can't face her right now, Meridina. I can't."  
  
"You fear you will confess your true feelings?" Meridina extended a hand to him, placing it on his arms. "Zachary, every living being has darkness. You are no different. Your choices yesterday say more about what kind of man you are. You risked your life to help others and to give comfort to a poor, tormented being."  
  
"I can't believe that thought was inside me," Zack said. "How can I face Rob ever again? Knowing that there's a part of me, even a small one, that wants to see him _dead_? How can I let him be my friend? I mean... even as I was in a world where I killed him, he was sitting at my bedside, looking out for me. My God, Meridina, I don't _deserve them_."  
  
"You are wrong, Zachary," Meridina insisted. "It may take you time to come to grips with the darkness you found within you, but I know you will. You will understand that you are a good man. And no temptation will ever change that."  
  
"If you say so." Zack looked past her. "I can't help but think of Gylao. She was... just a fragment of a woman that once lived, that saw everything she loved destroyed, and they wouldn't even let her bring her happy memories into that simulation with her. All she had for two hundred thousand years was the annihilation of everything she loved. She, I mean, she was so broken she couldn't even tell right from wrong."  
  
"It is horrible that such a thing happened," Meridina agreed.  
  
"Hopefully she'll be happy now. I'm not perfect, but I'm hoping my... memory self or whatever it is can keep her happy." Zack grinned slightly. "I almost envy him."  
  
Meridina smiled softly. "He will be an affectionate friend to her, yes." The smile faded mostly. "Zachary, do you remember anything of what happened to the ancient Adranians?"  
  
"Nothing specific. Just..." Zack drew in a breath and focused. "...images. Their cities were burning. These big metal things were attacking them. And they did things to the Adranians. They actually somehow... brainwashed them, used them against the others."  
  
"And nothing else?"  
  
"There was a name. She never said it, but I sensed it when she was downloading me. The attackers never identified themselves, so the Adranians named them." Zack swallowed. "I think it was a bit of a warning, in fact."  
  
"So what did they call them?", Meridina asked.  
  
Zack went silent as he sifted through his brain. The name, the word, was so familiar. He tried to tease it to the surface of his tongue.  
  
"Zachary? What did they call them?"  
  
He looked at her as the word popped into his mind. He _could_ remember it now.  
  
"Reapers," he answered. "They called their killers the Reapers."  
  
  
  
  
A wide field of golden wheat stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance circular fields could be made out from the top of the mound. Gylao looked about in curiosity, not sure what it was she was seeing.  
  
"Beautiful, isn't it? Kinda simple though."  
  
She looked up, re-assuming the form of Julia Andreys as she did, wearing a sleeveless white blouse and golden skirt. A smile crossed her face at seeing Zachary Carrey - the fully-downloaded imprint of his mind and memories - step up, wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans and carrying a blanket and picnic basket. "If it were just a bit taller you could see the entire county," he said to her. "Too bad it's gone. There's an alien facility underneath it that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. We had to blow it up."  
  
"This was your home?", Gylao asked.  
  
"It was. Well, near my home. It was on Rob's family's property." He laid out the blanket. "Okay, first things first." He looked at her and put a hand on her chin. "You're not Julia. You don't have to be Julia for me to be happy with you, Gylao."  
  
"What would you prefer then? I sense you have sentiments for the one named Caterina as well, and there is also Karen Derbely, Magda Navaez, Clara Dav..."  
  
"I want Gylao," Zack insisted. "I want the brave woman who wanted to leave a memory of her people and who spent a quarter of a million years watching them be destroyed over and over... and managed to keep her sanity enough to help me save my friends."  
  
Gylao stared at him in surprise. She lowered her emerald eyes, which turned into amethysts as her skin turned pink and her hair a darker shade of red. She was still human-shaped as she'd been before. "Then you have me," she told him.  
  
"Yeah." Zack put his arms around her. "So, I know it's all data drawn from my brain, but I've brought the county's best roast beef sandwiches and some grape and cherry Kool-Aid, and it's still going to taste great. And when our picnic is over, we'll have to decide what to see next."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You don't think I've just seen these boring wheat fields, did you Gylao?" Data-Zack laughed and shook his head. "I've been to a bunch of places on Earth. And I've seen so much more in space, even if I only have a few years of memories there. I'll show it all to you." He pressed his lips to her's briefly. "We'll become children and have snowball fights with Rob and Julie and Tom. We'll become teenagers and cuddle at the last drive-in theater in the state. And then I'll have you in the dugout watching me pitch a no-hitter in the division championships."  
  
"You have so many memories," Gylao said in wonderment.  
  
"Yeah. And now..." He smiled at her. "...they're going to be yours too. Now come here, Gy..."  
  
"Gy...?"  
  
"Term of endearment." He pulled her close. "Get used to it."  
  
Zack pressed his lips to Gylao's. She closed her eyes, blue tears running down her pink cheeks as they shared a kiss under the warm summer sun.  
  
She would never be alone again.


End file.
